She has secured a deal with Northern Ireland’s DUP, which says will “provide certainty”, but failed to note that her gamble had spectacularly backfired.

Former Labour MP Ed Balls said May’s “tone deaf, stubborn and bunkered statement in Downing Street will prove the final nail in the coffin of her leadership.”

No formal coalition will be put in place, but Theresa May visited Buckingham Palace today to seek permission from the Queen to form a government.

The Conservatives, who remain the largest party, won 318 seats, eight short of the 326 needed for an overall majority. A deal with the DUP, who won ten seats, will give them a working, if delicate, majority.

On a night full of shocks, Jeremy Corbyn defied the odds to secure a bigger number of votes than Tony Blair managed, even in Labour’s landslide victory in 2001. The party finished the night with 161 seats (excluding Kensington).

The Labour leader’s 12.8 million votes is also more than Blair managed in 2005, which many of putting down to a high youth turnout, although official figures have not been released.